Latinos in California will surpass whites by 2014

Demographers have been telling this story for decades to little positive response from lawmakers, especially those who continue to cut state education budgets.

And this is it, in a nutshell: The education and well-being of the nation’s Latinos — U.S. citizens and immigrants — will benefit the nation as a whole, because the reality is Latinos and other communities of color will outnumber their white counterparts all too soon.

This, as the nation’s white workforce is retiring in great numbers.

In the latest bit of evidence, California’s “state Department of Finance estimates that by the middle of this year, whites and Latinos will each represent about 39 percent of California’s population, with Latinos reaching a plurality soon after that.”

The Los Angeles Times story says, “For the first time since California became a state in 1850, Latinos will surpass whites as the largest ethnic group by 2014.”

By 2060, California Latinos will be at 48 percent, whites at 30 percent; Asians, 13 percent; and blacks, 4 percent. Latinos will be in “the prime working ages” while white boomers retire.

“This should serve as a wake-up call and appreciate how the older generation needs the younger generation,” said University of Southern California demography and urban planning professor Dowell Myers.

“The more educated and prosperous this younger generation is, the more they can contribute to California’s tax base as the baby boomers’ contributions decrease.”

“Without the babies born to those immigrant mothers, we would really be in deep trouble,” he added.

“The projections are a continuation that have been observed for the last 20 years,” said James Allen, professor emeritus at Cal State Northridge.

In 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the U.S. Latino population at 52 million, or 16.7 percent of the overall population. Another 3.7 million live in Puerto Rico. Officials have put the undocumented Latino population at about 11 million.

By 2050, Latinos are projected to become 30 percent of the nation’s population.